State-Civilization: Cultural Aspects of Political Theory

The paper examines the current state of the theory of the state‑civilization, a new concept of the form of the state for both domestic and foreign historical and political science that is based not only and not so much on the legal recognition of its constitutional and legal status, but rather on the cultural identity of its founding community. The author analyzes the current ideas of Russian scholars and researchers regarding the main features of the state‑civilization, and compares them with the traditional concept of «national state.» Using the methodology of historical and cultural analysis, the author considers the stages of the Russian statehood formation. It is postulated that the State as a system of political institutions and management practices is one of the elements of civilization. The specifics of the system of state power and administration practices are the result of conscious human activity at a certain stage of the development of society on a par with other achievements of social and spiritual cultures. The conclusion is made about the variability of the form and content of the state in its political and legal meaning, which prevents the concept of the state‑civilization from being opposed to the concept of a national state, despite the existing views of a number of researchers on this subject. However, the author notes the immutability of such phenomena of civilization as space, people and culture, customs and traditions, ways and values, which suggests that the concept of «state‑civilization» should be considered in relation to the study of law and politics in its cultural significance.